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Good-Bye to All That

by Graves, Robert

First edition

Price: $9,750.00
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Book desription: London: Jonathan Cape, 1929. First edition. Fine/very good. THIS BOOK IS ELIGIBLE FOR A DISCOUNT OF UP TO 20% OFF THE PRICE SHOWN IN THIS LISTING FOR ORDERS PLACED ON OR BEFORE DECEMBER 31, 2009. (Not available in combination with any other discounts.) A Near Fine copy, quite bright in the publisher's salmon -colored cloth (gentle bumping to head and heel of the spine, page block edges darkened and pages a little toned) in a Very Good dust jacket (small chipping to spine heel, and a closed tear and chipping to the spine head-with loss to the "E" in "BYE") of the FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of this W.W.I memoir written by Graves in only eleven weeks to raise some much-needed money. The First Issue of the First Edition is not common and this copy is even less common and, perhaps, is unique. This copy has been INSCRIBED, SIGNED, AND DATED BY ROBERT GRAVES as follows: "To Shirley from / Robert / 1978". Graves books inscribed by by him are rather uncommon, inscribed copies of this title are rare, and inscribed copies of the First Issue are extraordinarily rare. Due to the small number of First Issues of this book, we speculate, reasonably we think, that this copy belonged to Robert Graves until he gave it to Shirley. TOGETHER WITH A SMALL ARCHIVE of letters, photos, and postcards from the Graves family members to the inscribee of the book, Shirley Martinez, a good friend of the Graves family (at least of the family he had with his second wife, Beryl, who, after decades spent with him, nursed him as his health declined and up to his death). These items consist of: (i) a postcard from Canellun Deya Mallorca Spain (such location being preprinted at the top of the card with the Graves' phone number). "Canellun" was the name of the Graves family home in Deya Mallorca (aka Deia, Majorca). The card, which has been converted by Beryl to a Christmas card with a tipped on photo of two cats and a kitten (presumably the Graves' cats) reclining together on a couch, was written in what appears to be Beryl's hand, and is stated to be from "Robert, Beryl & family"; (ii) a scenic foldover card with a long typed note addressed to Shirley signed "Beryl", (iii) another Canellun card written and signed by Beryl and mentioning, among other things that "Robert is doing quite well now & his appetite never seems to fail him."; (iv) a two page letter from Beryl to Shirley on two pages of Canellun headed stationary and stating in part: "At the moment Suzy is here & massaging Robert's feet! So it still goes on. Robert is certainly no worse than he was though his legs tend to give way more frequently" and discussing Felix, the cat; (v) a holographic letter on brown paper to Shirley from Beryl speaking much of the cats (including the recent death of " poor old Felix") and stating in part: "Robert is rather better at present, rather more lively & with a great appetite." and " P. S. I enclose a photo of "El Rabio" & me 'Adios Felix' one"; (vi) a two page letter from Juan (Graves' son) to Shirley, who was in London, a few lines of which which request that she send him a copy of Bruce Springsteen's latest album "Born to run" (Juan had just read an article about him but states that he has never heard his music, and that the Time magazine article made him sound "pretty good"), as well as the "Latest Rod Stewart album"; (vii) a postcard from Juan to Shirley; (viii) four "correo aereo" envelopes addressed to Shirley Martinez with Canellun / Deya / Mallorca / Spain preprinted on the flaps and with some hand-written notes on the back of one of the envelopes (the various letters having been removed from their respective envelopes, we do not know which envelope goes with which letter); (ix) a laminated postcard sent to Shirley from "Lily" writing from Kenya (Lily may be Robert Graves' aunt who was named Lily or perhaps his daughter who was name Lucia); (x) a postcard to Shirley signed "Robbie" and reading: "Dear Shirley, / Sorry to hear about your fall- / Do things gently. / Do things slowly. / Do things one at / a time. / When chopping wood / -chop wood- / Love & Levitation / Robbie". While this card is not written in Graves' hand, we speculate that it was dictated by him.; (xi) three photographs of an elderly Graves, apparently taken at Canellun, one of which includes a woman we believe to be Beryl, perhaps the photo referred to in the letter described in item (v), above; and (xii) and invitation made out to Shirley Martinez to attend a memorial service for Graves in London which has preprinted on it a section of "To Be Poets" ("...To be poets confers Death on us..."). A rare set of items including a RARE First Issue of "Good-Bye to All That", INSCRIBED, SIGNED, AND DATED BY GRAVES TO SHIRLEY MARTINEZ, as well as LETTERS, POSTCARDS, AND PHOTOGRAPHS FROM GRAVES' WIFE AND SON TO SHIRLEY MARTINEZ, INCLUDING A NUMBER OF REFERENCES TO GRAVES AND HIS DECLINING HEALTH. A RARE ASSOCIATION COPY AND SET OF RELATED ITEMS. 

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